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Troops and veterans who have had limbs amputated must go through a full-body scanner, receive a pat-down and be swabbed for explosives to get through security at U.S. airports. While service members have heard civilians say the measures should not be necessary, they understand the importance of the security measures. "We have an obligation to check," TSA spokesman Nico Melendez said, adding that objects such as knives and swords have been found inside prostheses.

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Airlines serving Colorado's Denver International Airport added extra flights to accommodate holiday travelers, but failed to notify the Transportation Security Administration, the agency said. The TSA security checkpoint had just one lane open late Saturday and early Sunday, when there probably should have been three, said TSA spokesman Nico Melendez.

Transportation Security Administration spokesman Nico Melendez displayed items confiscated from travelers at Los Angeles International Airport, including knives, brass knuckles and a large wooden mallet. Seventeen guns have been discovered at the airport so far this year, the same as in 2013.

Oregon's driver cards, issued to non-citizens in lieu of driver's licenses, will be accepted at Transportation Security Administration airport security checkpoints, according to TSA spokesman Nico Melendez. "What we are doing is verifying that the person who shows the card is the person who is traveling," he said. "It's not an immigration check."

An unusually large number of travelers have attempted to pass through security checkpoints in Southern California with loaded handguns recently, the Transportation Security Administration says. "Over the course of our history, passengers have usually brought about two guns a day to airports around the country. In the last seven days, we've seen four guns at two airports here in Southern California," TSA spokesman Nico Melendez said.

Columnist Gregory Rummo is rarely stopped for a pat-down and rarely experiences an unpleasant encounter as he passes through airport security stations. He attributes this good fortune to his attitude. Rummo also notes that he believes the threat of terrorist attacks justifies the pat-down procedure and writes that he believes concerns about the pat-downs are overblown. "While there have been accusations of excessive fondling by overzealous security screeners, such incidents are few and far between given the number of airline passengers each year and given that the very nature of a legal pat-down is close enough to excessive fondling to begin with," he writes.